This invention relates generally to improvements in musical instruments, particularly to clarinets. More specifically, the present invention relates to an improved barrel assembly of a clarinet having a removable and interchangeable bore wherein intonation, response, and tone color can be modified without the need of replacing the entire barrel assembly.
The clarinet is a member of the woodwind family. Woodwinds are instruments that produce their sound or tone by a vibrating reed. The earliest record of the clarinet is in J. G. Doppelmayr's Historische Nachricht von den Nurnbergischen Mathematics und Kunstlern (Nuremberg 1730), with its biography of maker Johann Christoph Denner (1655-1707).
The clarinet used mostly in the United States is called a plain Bohem clarinet. This instrument was devised by clarinetist Hyacinthe Klose with clarinet maker Auguste Buffet Jeune, and was first exhibited in 1843. Some of the other systems are the full Bohem clarinet (this system offers many more combinations for fingering notes making many passages easier to play, and is also longer which produces a darker tone color), the Albert clarinet (a simple system), and the Oehler system used in Germany and Europe.
One of the differences between the Albert system clarinet and the Bohem system clarinet is that on the Albert when you use the first finger of the right hand you will produce a low B-natural and a middle F-sharp, whereas the Bohem clarinet will produce a low B-flat and a middle F-natural when using this same fingering. The Albert system is also simpler than the Bohem system in that it often only has one way to finger a given note or tone.
There are also differences between the plain Bohem clarinet and the full Bohem clarinet. There is a sixth ring on the full Bohem under the third finger of the left hand. This ring allows an alternate fingering for the low E-flat and upper B-flat by picking up the third finger of the left hand which is much faster than the fingering on the plain Bohem system clarinet. There is an alternate left hand A-flat/E-flat key making many finger combinations much easier and smoother to play. There is what is called an articulated G-sharp mechanism. This mechanism allows the player to hold down the G-sharp key when playing hard or fast passages going to F-sharp, D-sharp and any other note, making these passages much easier and smoother. The full Bohem is also capable of an extra half step or semi-tone lower than the plain Bohem. This half step is produced because the full Bohem clarinet is longer than the plain Bohem clarinet. This length allows the production of a low E-flat and a middle B-flat with a long fingering. However, the most important aspect the extension and extra semi-tone is that a vent is provided for the middle B-natural to speak from, responding quicker than the middle B-natural on the plain Bohem clarinet.
The clarinet is widely used in all forms of present day music. In the orchestra as a stable in the woodwind section, in traditional jazz, modern jazz, and in the concert band replacing the voices of the string section of the orchestra. The first clarinetist is the concert master of the concert band. The clarinet comes in several basic keys including B-flat used in orchestra, concert bands and jazz, the A used mostly in the orchestras, E-flat soprano, C soprano, B-flat bass, E-flat contra alto, and B-flat contra bass.
The traditional clarinet is basically made in five pieces. The mouthpiece, barrel, upper joint, lower joint and the bell section. There are some exceptions to this rule. There have been clarinets made with the upper and lower joints as a single piece. This clarinet has four pieces. Most metal clarinets used in the 1920's and 1930's were made with the upper joint, lower joint and bell as one section. This clarinet has only three pieces.
The barrel and mouthpiece are considered by many of the world's greatest clarinetists to be the most important parts of the clarinet. The barrel controls the intonation (pitch), tone color (type of sound) and response (the amount of time it take for a note or sound to come out of the instrument after a key or mechanism has been moved from one note to another) of the clarinet.
Both the barrel and mouthpiece of the clarinet are held to the instrument by a ring of cork. The fit of this cork is very important. If the cork is loose the mouthpiece or the barrel may move making it difficult to play the instrument properly or causing a leak in the instrument which results in poor response. The fit of the barrel to both the mouthpiece and clarinet upper joint is very difficult to maintain when changing several barrels. If one places a barrel on the cork that is slightly smaller than the one used prior to it, the smaller barrel will tend to compress the cork. Then when returning to the original barrel the fit will be slightly loose. This again creates both intonation and response problems. It has been very difficult to control the cork fit on both the barrel and mouthpiece when it is necessary to change the complete barrel to either alter intonation and/or tone color (sound). The need to carry several barrels to insure having the proper barrel for each performance is quite a concern to the player.
Another difficulty experienced with past clarinets arose when a player wanted to use the same barrel when switching instruments. Generally, the mouthpieces made in the United States are close to the same bore size, however, the bores of the various clarinets are different. This creates problems for the player in being able to use the same barrel when switching from one instrument to another.
The bore, the central passageway through the barrel, controls the tone color and response of the clarinet. Traditionally, the bore of the clarinet is basically a cylinder that may be slightly tapered. With the traditional clarinet barrel it is necessary to change the entire barrel to change the bore taper of the clarinet. For example, if the clarinet player wants a traditional bore (cylinder) it must come in one barrel, but if the clarinet player wants a barrel that has a reverse taper, or any other taper, he must choose a different barrel.
Accordingly, there is a need for a clarinet barrel system which eliminates the need to carry multiple barrels, maintains the cork fit, and allows a mouthpiece from one clarinet to be used on the body of another. This must be accomplished without impairing the response, articulation, intonation, and tone control of the instrument. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other related advantages.